Islamabad: The Pakistan Supreme Court dismissed the review petitions filed by the deposed Prime Minister and his children against the July 28 Panama Papers judgment. A five-judge SC bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had taken up the petitions seeking review of the court's ruling which disqualified Sharif and ordered the the filing of corruption cases against him and his children - Hussain, Hassan and Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
"For the reasons (to be) recorded later, all these review petitions are dismissed," Justice Khosa announced. The reasons will be revealed later in a detailed order. With the rejection of the review petitions, Sharif's disqualification as a member of the Parliament remains valid. The Sharif family and Dar will now face corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau in the accountability court.
Speaking to the media after the verdict, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry said the court's decision is a victory for the nation. On July 28, Sharif was dismissed by the apex court and stepped down after a probe into the Panama papers scandal revealed he had not declared income received from a firm owned by his son in Dubai. The Panama Papers revealed in April 2016 that three of his four children had set up offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands through which they owned property in London, leading the top court to order an investigation after a year of protests by the opposition.
Rift in family over Sharif's successor
The sequence of events that followed the disqualification of Sharif from office has exposed a rift within the Sharif family and the ruling PML-N over the question of who will be the successor of the ousted premier. The by-election for a National Assembly seat in Lahore, that fell vacant with Sharif becoming ineligible to remain a legislator, has brought in the open the split in the party between his daughter, Maryum, and his younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, who is currently the CM of Punjab.
Knowing the delicacy of the power struggle, Nawaz, after his ouster, had announced his younger brother to be his successor but to be a PM, Shahbaz had to be elected to the National Assembly. As a stop-gap measure, Shahid Abbasi was announced PM. Sharif also launched his daughter to be his unofficial political strategist and spokesperson.
“By announcing Khaqan Abbasi first as the country's interim PM and then permanent, Sharif has successfully denied control of PML-N to his younger brother till next election in mid-2018,” said analyst Nusrat Javed.
